EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 205 



States Atomic Energy Commission. This agreement defined the pro rata share 

 of each sponsoring agency, established an Interagency Advisory Board, and out- 

 lined the mission of the center. The Interagency Advisory Board was established 

 on the basis of one representative from each of the contributing agencies plus two 

 representatives appointed by the National Academy of Sciences. The current 

 membership of the Board is the same as it was at the time of its first meeting on 

 January 16, 1961. The representatives and their agencies are as follows: 



Mr. Howard Eckles, Chairman, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



Dr. Vincent Schultz, Atomic Energy Commission. 



Dr. Harris B. Stewart, Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



Mr. Boyd E. Olson, U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office. 



Dr. Arthur E. Maxwell, Office of Naval Research. 



Dr. John Lyman, National Science Foundation. 



Mr. Robert Schloemer, Weather Bureau, 

 and the two representatives appointed by the National Academy of Sciences: 



Dr. Milner B. Schaefer, Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. 



Dr. Donald W. Pritchard, the Johns Hopkins University. 

 The NODC Advisory Board is charged with the responsibility for transmitting 

 joint policy and providing technical guidance to the center. By its formal actions, 

 it reflects the majority opinion of the sponsoring agencies. 



The interagency agreement further outlines in considerable detail, the functions 

 of the data center and the methods of operation. I will not attempt to elaborate 

 upon these details at this time Mr. Chairman, but with your permission, I would 

 like to leave with your committee a copy of the agreement to be made a part of the 

 record. 



While the data center, itself, actually came into being in November 1960, 

 using temporary quarters provided by the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office at 

 Suitland, Md., the formal dedication ceremony, which officially inaugurated the 

 center at its new location within the reservation of the Naval Weapons Plant, was 

 held on January 16, 1961. This central metropolitan location has proved to be 

 exceptionally convenient to the users of the data center and to the staffs of the 

 sponsoring agencies. 



ACCOMPLISHMENTS 



Although the NODC has been in existence for only a year, its archives already 

 comprise what is probably the world's largest collection of marine environmental 

 data. However, we do not want to take undue credit for this circumstance; 

 the oceanographic data previously held by the Hydrographic Office, and ac- 

 cumulated by them over a period of a decade or more, still constitutes a sizable 

 fraction of our present holdings. 



During this first year we have accessioned into our files all of the physical and 

 chemical data from about 200,000 oceanographic stations (each station is com- 

 prised of sounding measurements at 10 or more depths and includes temperature, 

 salinity, and other chemical data). In addition to these data, we have on hand 

 about 700,000 bathythermograms (BT's) which provide temperature information 

 at depths up to 900 feet. We are now processing BT's at the rate of 5,000 per 

 month. Through our normal production, and through a contract with the J. I. 

 Thompson Co., we have been able to reduce our original backlog of BT's (100,000) 

 by about 35,000. New BT records received during the year totaled 51,000. 



The data files also include several millions of surface observations (sea swell, 

 surface temperature, current drift, etc.) which have been collected since the turn 

 of the century by the cooperative observers of the merchant marine. Most of 

 these data are available on punched cards or magnetic tapes for rapid servicing 

 by electronic data processing equipment. 



In addition to our domestic exchanges, at the present time we exchange data 

 with the Hydrographic Office of Argentina, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceanographic 

 Groups and Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Canada, the hydro- 

 graphic offices of Chile and France, Navy and fisheries organizations of Great 

 Britain, the hydrographic departments of the Netherlands and New Zealand, 

 Navy of the Union of South Africa, and various government agencies in Tokyo, 

 and the Hydrographic Office of Japan. Most of these exchanges involve bathy- 

 thermograph data primarily; however, those with Canada and Japan include 

 physical and chemical data at the surface and depths (oceanographic station data) . 



The NODC has also made an exchange with the Hydrographic Institute at 

 Split, Yugoslavia. The NODC has provided them with NODC publications, 

 and the institute has agreed to supply observational data on an "as available 

 basis." 



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